Automatic mail-bag catcher and deliverer.



R. KOCH.

AUTOMATIC MAIL BAG GATGHER AND DELIVERER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 25, 1911.

Patented Feb.20, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

R. KOCH.

AUTOMATIC MAIL BAG GATCHER AND DELIVERER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 25, 1911.

21- I -p 1 15 If? .OLUMBIA PLANDGRAPH C0,,WASHINGTON, D1 c.

R. KOCH.

AUTOMATIC MAIL BAG GATGHER AND DELIVERER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 25, 1911.

1,017,976, Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

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CULUMIIA FLANOORAPH CO" WASHINGTON, D. C.

, detail perspective view of the mail sack UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUDOLPH KOCH, OF TEMPLE, TEXAS.

AUTOMATIC MAIL-BAG CATGI-IER- AND DELIVERER.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it lmown that I, RUDOLPH Koo-H, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Temple, in the county of Bell, State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Mail-Bag Catchers and Deliverers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable .others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mail bag catching and delivering mechanism and has for an object to provide a device of this character that will have a novel mail bag controlled spring catch, this catch positively locking upon entry of the mail bag bail into the catch and preventing skipping of the mail sack by the mail train.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character that will have an automatic means for delivering mail sacks, this means operating to push ofi a mail sack from the sack supporting arm, this pushing off of the sack taking place prior to the taking up of the sack to be caught.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device of this character that may be swung into nearly the plane of the side of the car so that danger of the device catching in passing trains will be entirely obviated.

With the above objects in view the invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combination of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be made in the minor details of construction within the scope of the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification z--Figure l is a side elevation of a mail catching and delivering mechanism embodying my improvements. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device showing the device dotted in released position. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the device with the arm swung inwardly in mail sack receiving position. Fig. 4 is a catch.

Referring now to the drawing in which like characters of reference designate similar parts, the device is shown attached to a mail car door casing 10, a pair of alined Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed. August 25, 1911.

Patented Feb. 20, 1912.

Serial No. 645,897.

hinge eyes 11 being secured to the outer face of the jamb for this purpose.

The swinging crane consists in general of two parts a bracket 12 preferably formed of tubing, and a swinging arm 13 carried by this bracket and terminally equipped with mail bag catching and delivering mechanism about to be described. The bracket may be constructed in any preferred manner, a practical construction being here illustrated comprising equipped at its opposite ends with elbows 15 which receive short downwardly projecting tubes 16, the innermost of which loosely fits inthe uppermost hinge eye and forms the upper gudgeon upon which the bracket may swing into nearly the plane of the car as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1. A tubular goose neck 17 is provided at its opposite ends with elbows 18, the outer of which receives the free end of the outermost short tube 16 of the upper tube, and the innermost of which receives a downwardly projecting short tube 19 which loosely fits in the lowermost hinge eye and a top tube 14,

forms the lower gudgeon of the bracket,

as shown, and is centrally provided with a U-shaped loop 22, the legs of this loop being bent into substantially L shapes as shown, so that the bight of the loop when the bracket is rocked at a right angle to the side of the car, will lie flat along the side of the car and perform the function of a stop to limit outwardly swinging movement of the bracket.

J ournaled in' a suitable bearing formed in the car door j amb is a pin 23 which projects beyond both the inner and outer faces of the amb and is equipped on its outer end with a laterally projecting arm 24: which is designed to hook over the bight of the loop 22 when the bracket is swung outwardly to lock the bracket in this position. The pin is equipped on its inner end with a crank handle 25 which permits of manual rotation of the pin to its released or operative position. Upon release of the pin from engagehingedly connected to the bracket in any.

preferred manner, and is here illustrated as being equipped with a T-couplin 26 the lateral branch of which receives the inner end of the arm and the alined branches of which receive the outer short tube 16 of the bracket upper tube. This construction per mits of the arm swinging inwardly toward the car door and outwardly into alinement with the top tube of the bracket. For preventing a too great outward swinging movement of the arm, a T-shaped stop 27 is pro-- vided, the alined branches of the T being provided with terminal eyes which encircle the top tube and goose neck of the bracket, and the shank of the T being directed forwardly along the side of the swinging arm T coupling, and terminally bent abruptly upon itself, this bent portion being bifurcated and receiving the swinging arm when the latter is in alinement with the top tube of the bracket as shown,

For delivering mail, an L-shaped hook 28 is fixed at the outer end of 'the arm 13, one leg of the hook underlying the extreme outer end of the arm and being provided longitudinally with a slot 29. The other leg of the hook extends at approximately a right angle to the arm and is equipped with an opening 30. A push rod 31 extends along the underneath face of the swinging arm 13, and is pivotally connected at its inner end to an outwardly projecting bracket arm 32 carried upon the outermost elbow of the goose neck, this bracket arm preferably being bifurcated and receiving the inner end of the push rod, a pivot pin 33 being passed vertically through the parts for pivotally securing the parts together. The outer end of the push rod extends through the opening 30 in the hook, and is terminally equipped with a downturned curvilinear lug 34, which contacts with the outer end wall of the slot in the lower leg of the hook when the swinging arm is rocked to its outermost limit of movement. By virtue of the push rod being pivotally connected to a bracket arm, its pivot is disposed considerably in advance of the pivot of the swinging arm 13, so that when the latter is swung inwardly toward the car door, the lug 34E of the push rod will. advance through the slot in the lower leg of the hook toward the upright leg of the hook and come to a position of rest near theupright leg. Now a mail bag may be placed upon the hook, in advance of the lug of the push rod, and upon the arm 13 being manually swung outward, the lug of the push rod will advance forwardly through the slot in the lower leg of the hook pushing before it the strap of the mail sack and when the swinging arm reaches its final position, the strap will have been pushed bodily off from the hook and the mail sack thrown off from the moving car.

The mechanism for taking up a mail bag to be caught is arranged at the free end of the arm 13 and extends at a right angle to the arm and on that side of the arm in the direction which the train is moving. The preferred construction comprises a T coupling 35 in the alined branches of which the tip end of the swinging arm 13 is fixed.

A U-shaped hook 36 is provided at the upper end of-one of its legs with an out-turned finger 37 which performs the function of a guide as will be presently explained, and is provided at the upper end of its other leg with a. tubular shank 38 which is fixed in the lateral branch of the T-coupling 35. Fixed transversely on the shank 38 is a stop 39 in the form of a closed loop, the longitudinal diameter of which is parallel with the longitudinal diameter of the swinging arm 13. The opposite end portions of this stop engage with the sides of the mail bag sus' pension eye 40 and remove the eye together with the bag bodily from the station standard 41, the eye advancing over the guide finger 87' of the hook prior to its contact with the stop and after contact with the stop dropping bodily into the U-shaped hook.

For preventing the escape of the mail bag, a spring controlled pin 49. is mounted in the bore of the hook shank 38, the pin being of such length as to extend transversely across the U-shaped hook when in operative position. The pin is further equipped with an eye 43 by means of which the pin may be manually drawn against the pressure of its spring to expose the throat of the U-shaped hook in order that the mail bag eye may enter. A helical spring 44: is seated on the pin within the bore of the tubular shank 3S and normally holds the pin in its operative position, a novel trigger which is about to be described being employed to lock this pin in open position and to release the pin upon entry of the mail bag eye into the hook.

The trigger comprises a plate 45 which spans the legs of the U-shaped hook and is equipped on its opposite outer edges with guide strips 16 which bear against the edges of the hook legs and guide the trigger in its sliding movements. The plate is provided on its end edges with upturned lips 47 which bear upon the inner faces of the hook legs, the rearmost of these lips being provided with a groove 48 which receives the pin when the latter is drawn back against the pressure of its spring.- This grooved lip is held in tight frictional engagement with the pin to lock the pin in its cocked position through the instrumentality of a helical spring 49 interposed between the plate of the trigger and bridge of the U-shaped hook as clearly shown in Fig. 4:.

It is obvious that upon contacting of the mail bag eye with the trigger that the trigger will be depressed against the pressure of its spring, the spring controlled pin 42 being thus released and instantly moving over and coming to rest transversely across the open throat of the U-shaped hook and positively preventing escape of the mail sack from the hook.

What is claimed, is

1. A mail bag catcher including an arm, a hook projecting laterally from the arm, a spring controlled pin normally projecting across the open throat of said hook, and a spring controlled trigger slidingly fitted upon said hook and having a lip lockingly engageable With said pin for holding the pin in cocked position.

2. A mail bag catcher including an arm, a hook projecting laterally from said arm, a stop on said hook adapted for contact with the mail bag suspension means, said hookhaving an open throat disposed in advance of said stop, a spring controlled pin having a portion extending in advance of said stop and across the open throat of said hook, said pin being movable against the pressure of its spring to expose said open throat, and a trigger slidingly fitted on said hook and having a lip lockingly engaging and holding said pin in cocked position.

3. A mail bag catcher including an arm, a hook at the free end of said arm, and arranged at approximately a right angle thereto, said hook having an approximately U-shaped bight, a stop on the hook shank extending approximately parallel With said arm and disposed between said arm and the bight of said hook, a spring controlled trigger slidingly fitted in the bight of said hook, a spring controlled pin carried by said hook shank and having a free end projecting transversely across the open throat of said hook and overlying said trigger, said trigger having a lid adapted to lockingly engage and hold said pin in cocked position.

In testimony whereof, I aifix my signature, in presence of tWo Witnesses.

RUDOLPH KOCH. Witnesses W. B. BLAINE, J. L. BLOHA.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

